US3422012A - Non-thixotropic oil - Google Patents

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Jan. 14, 1969 J. R. HOPPER ETAL 3,422,012

NON-THIXOTROPIC OIL Filed Aug. 15, 1966 TIME, MINUTES INVENTORS.

JACK R.HOPPER.

BY BLAlNEyfl N, W

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,422,012 N ON-THIXOTROPIC OIL Jack R. Hopper and Blaine G. Corman, Baytown, Tex., assignors to Esso Research and Engineering Company Filed Aug. 15, 1966, Ser. No. 572,383 US. Cl. 25228 Claims Int. Cl. C10m 1/10 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE "ice extremely high viscosity is required. Further, this reduction with time requires the use of more thickening agent to obtain a workable viscosity after the passage of a finite time. The present invention allows a reduction of thickening agent to be used for a desired viscosity, as well as providing fluids of a higher viscosity which do not lose viscosity with time. Uses of the present invention will be found in high-speed lubricating applications (greases and gear oils), protective coatings, plastic fabrications, and metal fabrication.

The present invention employs a finely divided pyrogenic silica as a thickening agent. This material is commercially available under the trade name Cab-O-Sil, manufactured and sold by the Cabot Corporation of Boston, Mass. Typical properties of three types of pyrogenic silica sold by the Cabot Corporation are given below in Table I.

TABLE I.-TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF THREE MAIN GRADES 0F GAB-O-SIL Average Particle Size. Particle Shape Number of Particles Per Gram Specific Gravity Loose Bulk Densit Refractive Index... X-ray Structure 1 4 Amorphous--. Amorphous Amorphous 1 Other grades of Cab-O-Sil are available with specific modifications of some of the above properties.

2 Excludes physically adsorbed water. 3 Includes chemically combined water.

carbon oil in proportions from 3 to parts by weight of pyrogenic silica for each 100 parts by Weight of the aromatic hydrocarbon.

The mixture is found to be non-thixotropic, contrary to the common experience which shows that oils thus thickened are thixotropic in nature.

The present invention relates to a pseudoplastic, nonthixotropic composition. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a pseudoplastic, non-thixotropic mixture of a high-boiling aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate and a pyrogenic silica. In its most specific aspects, the present invention relates to a mixture of an aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate boiling within the range of 600- 800 F., and having a 50% point of at least 665 F., with 3 to 20 parts by weight of a finely divided pyrogenic silica.

The use of pyrogenic silica as a thickening agent is well known. However, the use of this material has heretofore invariably been found to produce a thixotropic mixture. A thixotropic fluid is one which, at a constant shear rate, decreases in viscosity with increasing time of shear, but which returns to the original viscosity when the shear conditions are terminated. The mixtures are also pseudoplastic. A non-Newtonian fluid for which the apparent viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate is called a pseudoplastic fluid. Previously, mixtures of pyrogenic silica with oil produced non-Newtonian fluids which were both pseudoplastic and thixotropic. The present invention is directed to a mixture which is pseudoplastic but which is non-thixotropic.

The decrease in viscosity with time at constant shear rates reduces the utility of a thickened mixture where an The pyrogenic silica is made by a vapor phase process: the high temperature hydrolysis of silicon tetrachloride at 1100 C. As can be seen by advertence to Table I, the silica produced has an extremely high purity, high surface area, small particle size, and low bulk density. The particles are spherical and are thought to associate within a fluid by reason of hydrogen bonding, trapping portions of the fluid in the resulting chicken-wire structure. Upon agitation or shear, the chicken-wire structure breaks down and then reforms after cessation of agitation. This provides the thixotropic action above referred to.

The viscosity of the mixture after addition of the pyrogenic silica depends upon the nature of the liquid, the concentration of the pyrogenic silica, the degree of dispersion, and the presence of various additives which promote the hydrogen bonding of the pyrogenic silica spherules, all as is well known to those skilled in the art. The use of additives reduces the amount of pyrogenic silica which is required to obtain the same viscosity and improves the stability of the thickened mixture (extending its shelf life). It is thus contemplated that a portion of the pyrogenic silica may be in part replaced by additives, or the silica may be supplemented by additives having the effects above discussed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The present invention offers an unexpected variant of the pyrogenic silica-thickened oil as is shown in the attached drawing wherein the sole fi'gure compares the thixotropicity of various types of oil when employed in oil-pyrogenic silica mixtures.

Referring to the figure, it is seen that the mixture of the present invention (identified as Curve A) is horizontal, showing no decrease in viscosity with time.

Curves B, C, D and E represent mixtures with other oils not having the high aromaticity and high boiling range of the present oil. Note that there is a distinct and severe 4 ASTM distillation (10 mm. Hg corrected decline in viscosity with time at a constant shear rate (50 to 760 mm.): r.p.n1.). This figure Will be discussed in more detail in conoff at, F. 628 nection with the examples subsequently given. off at, F. 637 The aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate which provides V off at, F. 648 the unobvious non-thixotropic mixture when combined 0 off at, F. 655 with pyrogenic silica is obtained as follows. A crude oil, off at, F. 664 for example coastal crude, is employed as the ultimate 011 at, F. 673 source. A coastal crude may have the following analysis. off at, F 682 TABLE II.ANALYSIS OF A TYPICAL COASTAL CRUDE Gravity, API Sulfur, Percent Dietert Flash, F., PM... S.U. Viscosity at- 100 F 80 00 40 F Reid Vapor Pressure, 1b.. Pour Point, F Neutralization value, D064. Hydrocarbon AnaL, LV Percent:

C2 and Lighter C3 I 1 1 0. 1 l-C-x 0.1 n-Cl 0.1 i 05..." 0.2 RC5 0.1

DATA ON CUTS Distillation Range ofCut,F (3 -250 250-375 375-530 5304150 651%850 850-1050 1,050+ Range ot'Cut, LV percent 0. 3-29 2. 945.1 s.130.9 30951.0 51. 977.5 77.5-92.4 92. 4-100 Yield, LV percent 2.6 5.2 22.8 21.0 25.0 14.9 7.6 Gravity, "API 59.0 43.9 31.9 27.8 23.0 20.5 12.9 Refractive Index, m) at 67 C 1.4707 1. 4870 .4958 Sulfur, percent 0011 0. 015 0.057 0. 115 0.250 0. 305 0.05 Aniline Point, It 125 120 142 166 200 300 Viscosity, SUS at 210 F 43. 0 10s. 0 Conradson Carbon 0.01 0. 00 0. 50 12. 0 Type Analysis:

Aromatics, percent 11.6 23.5 33 saturates, percent 88. 4 76. 5 07 The coastal crude is fractionated and a stream boiling off at, F 693 within the range from about 500 F. to about 800 F. off at, F 703 is obtained which has about 35% aromatic hydrocarbons 40 off at, 722 therein. This stream is mildly hydrogenated (hydrofined), off at, F. 740 then solvent extracted, utilizing phenol containing 6% FBP, F. 792

water as the solvent, at a treat rate of about to obtain a raffinate and an extract. The extract is further processed by re-extraction with more dilute phenol, followed by redistillation and mild hydrogenation of the extract from re-extraction.

The re-extracted, rerun and rehydrofined extract has an inspection as follows.

Colorhold, Tag-Robinson (16 hrs. at

212 F.) 11 /2 Volatility, 3 hrs. at 325 F., percent 2.80 Aniline point, F. 36 Refractive index, 11 at 67 C 1.5347 Sulfur, wt. percent 0.18 Neutralization No., mg. KOH/ g 0.0 Molecular weight (average) 249 Analysis by silica gel, Wt. percent:

Saturates 13.4 Aromatics 86.6 Polar 1.8

Approx. boiling range, F. 600-750 This specific oil is the one used in the examples later given. Note the high boiling range and high aromaticity.

The aromatics concentrate contains at least about 80% aromatic materials, which will include indanes, indenes, naphthalenes, acenaphthenes, acenaphthylenes, phenanthrenes and anthracene. For some reason unknown to the inventors, this extract interacts with the pyrogenic silica to provide an exceptionally stable mixture which does not exhibit thixotropy, though it does exhibit pseudoplasticity.

The aromatic hydrocarbon concentrates which can be employed in the present invention must have at least 80 weight percent aromatic hydrocarbons, boil within the range from 600 F. to 800 F., and have a 50% point at least as high as 665 F. Preferably, the material has an API gravity of 1l.7, a viscosity of about 179.6 SUS at about 100 F., and about 39.6 SUS at 210 F. The average molecular weight of the preferred oil will be about 249, and it will have a 5% boiling point of about 628 F., a 50% point of about 673 F., and a 95% point of about 740 F. These points are determined by ASTM distillation (ASTM D-l -61) carried out at 10 mm. pressure and then corrected to 760 mm. to obtain the above figures.

An analysis of the hydrocarbon concentrate by silica gel will show a preferred saturates content of about 13.4 weight percent and an aromatics content of about 86.6%, of which the polar aromatic compounds are about 1.8%. The silica gel analysis is carried out under procedures described as ASTM D2007.

The mixture of the aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate with the pyrogenic silica is easily obtained by agitation of the oil and silica by any suitable means, such as a Hobart mixer.

In order to illustrate the present invention, the following experimental runs are presented.

Five oils were used in the evaluation. The identification and inspection of each oil is shown below in Table IV.

Referring to Table V, note that the slope of the viscosity versus time curve in Brookfield units per minute ranges from 4.0 to 7.8 for the other oils, but is 0.0 with the aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate of the present invention. Note that Oil No. 1, which contained only 64.4% aromatics, had the second highest slope. The data from TABLE IV Present 011 011 011 011 Oil Invention No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5

Gravity, API 11.7 17. 9 24. s 17. 1 27. 2 32. 1 Viscosity, SUS:

210 F 39.6 37.9 37. 9 38.4 45.1 43.4 Color, ASTM 1. 5 0. 5 0. 5 1. 5 1 1 Flash, 000, F 335 330 300 410 Boiling range, 5%/95% 628/740 610/760 610/760 610/760 610/760 720/860 Clay Gel Analysis, ASTM D-2007:

saturates 13. 4 35. 6 64. 5 70. 3 s1. 2 s4. 2

Aromatics 86. 6 64. 4 35. 5 28. 4 18. 7 14. 9

Polar.-. 1.8 0.0 0.0 1.3 0.1 0.9

Aspheltenes 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 In the Figure: Curve A B C D The 011s ranged 1n composition from aromatlc to paraf- 50 whence the values 1n Table V were obtained are shown finic, in viscosity from 200 to 100 SUS at 100 F., and from 38 to 45 SUS at 210 F. The variance in API gravity was from 11.7 to 32.1 API. Of particular interest, they ranged in aromatics content from 14.9 to 86.6 weight percent.

In each of the examples 200 g. of oil were mixed with 12 g. of type M5 Cab-O-Sil. Thus, it is seen that for every 100 parts by weight of oil, 6 parts by weight of Cab-O-Sil were used. The components were mixed one minute at the slow speed and 4 minutes at the medium speed in a Hobart mixer. The mixture was allowed to set overnight before viscosity measurements were made. The viscosity measurements were made with a Brookfield Synchrolectric Viscometer type RVF rusing spindle No. 6.

In each case the apparent viscosity was evaluated as a function of time. The mixture which has the largest decrease in viscosity for a given time period, of course, is the most thixotropic. At constant shear rates, readings were taken at 0.5, 1, 3, 5 and minutes after the instrument was started. These readings were made at speeds of 10, 20, 50 and 100 r.p.m. with three of the mixtures, and at 50 and 100 r.p.m. with the other mixtures. Thus, in addition to determining the thixotropic characteristics, the affect of mixing speeds (schear rates) on the viscosity was also established to illustrate the pseudoplasticity of the mixtures.

Each of these runs is plotted in the figure. Further, the data are tabulated below in various tables.

TABLE V.THE THIXOTROPIO CHARACTER OF OIL-CAB below in Table VI.

TABLE VI.BROOKFIELD VISCOMEIER READINGS FOR OIL-CAB-O-SIL MIXTURES Oil Designation r.p.m. 1 3 5 10 Present Inventiorn 100 86 89 89 90 87 50 84 87 87 88 84 20 69 69 67 65 66 10 46 50 53 54 54 Oil N0. 1 100 62 58. 5 42. 5 32. 25 23 50 55. 5 50. 34 26 17. 25 Oil N0. 2 100 67 58. 5 39 31 15. 5

50 48 41 26 32 23 Oil N0. 3 100 85. 5 76. 5 62. 5 47. 5

50 77. 5 74 53 44. 5 27 Oil No. 4 82 84. 5 69 61 44. 5 50 62 49. 5 39 27. 5 Oil N0. 5 100 53 49 38 33 26 50 44 42 34 28 19 20 35 31 22 18 14 10 30 25 15 11 8. 5 Mineral Oil 100 35 31 26. 5 24 19 50 30 27 20 17 13 20 21 18 13 10. 5 7. 5 10 19 18 12 9 7 Referring to Table VI, note particularly that with the present invention the viscosity did not decrease as a function of time. At 100 r.p.m., the viscosity of /2 minute was 86 Brookfield units, where at 10 minutes it was 87 Brookfield units. At 50 r.p.m. the reading was identical at 84, both at /2 minute and at 10 minutes. Similar results are seen, within experimental error, at 20 and 10 rpm. The other oils, contrarily, exhibit radical decreases in the Brookfield reading with respect to time.

Having disclosed the present invention in detail, along with a specific example of the preferred aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate and pyrogenic silica mixture, what is intended to be covered by the present application should be limited not by the specific examples herein given, but rather by the appended claims.

\Ve claim:

1. A pseudoplastic, non-thixotropic viscous mixture consisting essentially of (1) one hundred parts by weight of an aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate having the following characteristics:

an aromatic hydrocarbon content of at least 80 weight percent and 7 a boiling range within the limits from 600 F. to 800 F., with a 50% point of at least 665 F., and (2) from 3 to 20 parts by Weight of a finely-divided pyrogenic silica having a surface area of at least 200 square meters per gram. 2. A mixture as in claim 1 wherein the mixture contains about 6 parts of said pyrogenic silica.

3. A mixture as in claim 1 wherein said pyrogenic silica has:

a surface area of about 200 m./gram, an average particle size of 0.012 micron, and a loose bulk density of 2.3 lb./cu. ft. 4. A mixture as in claim 3 wherein the mixture contains about 6 parts of said pyrogenic silica.

5. A pseudoplastic, non-thixotropic viscous mixture consisting essentially of (1) one hundred parts by weight of an aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate having the following characteristics:

API gravity, about 11.7"; Viscosity, SUS at 100 15., about 179.6; SUS at 210 F., about 39.6; Average molecular weight, about 249; Analysis by silica gel, weight percent:

Saturates, about 13.4; Aromatics, about 86.6; Polar compounds, about 1.8, and a boiling range within the limits from 600 F. to 800 F., with a 50% point of at least 665 F., and (2) from 3 to 20 parts by weight of a finely-divided, pyrogenic silica having a surface area of at least 200 square meters per gram. 6. A mixture as in claim 5 wherein the mixture contains about 6 parts of said pyrogenic silica.

7. A mixture as in claim 5 wherein said pyrogenic silica has:

a surface area of about 200 m. /gram, an average particle size of 0.012 micron, and a loose bulk density of 2.3 lb./cu. ft. 8. A mixture as in claim 7 wherein the mixture contains about 6 parts of said pyrogenic silica.

9. A pseudoplastic, non-thixotropic, viscous mixture consisting essentially of (1) one hundred parts by weight of an aromatic hydrocarbon concentrate having the following characteristics:

Gravity, API 11.7 Specific gravity at 60 F 0.9881 Viscosity:

SUS at 100 F. 179.6 SUS at 210 F. 39.6 Flash, O.C., F. 335 Pour, F. Color, ASTM 1.5 Color, Tag-Robinson 16 Colorhold, Tag-Robinson (16 hrs. at 212 F.) 11 /2 Volatility, 3 hrs. at 325 F., percent 2.80

Aniline point, F. 36 Refractive index, n at 67 C. 1.5347 Sulfur, Wt. percent 0.18 Neutralization N0., mg. KOH/g. 0.0 Molecular weight (average) 249 Analysis by silica gel, wt. percent:

Saturates 13.4

Aromatics 86.6

Polar compounds 1.8

ASTM distillation (10 mm. Hg corrected to 76 and (2) from 3 to 20 parts by weight of pyrogenic silica having the following characteristics:

Silica content (excludes physically adsorbed 10. A mixture as in claim 9 wherein the mixture contains about 6 parts of said pyrogenic silica.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,514,331 7/1950 Morway 25221 2,583,605 l/l952 Sirianni et al 252-21 3,123,560 3/1964 Hallowell 25258 FOREIGN PATENTS 659,409 3/1963 Canada.

DANIEL E. WYMAN, Primary Examiner.

IRVING VAUGHN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

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